Chen Kai went all the way east, but the memorial he had earlier sent to Du Yonghe for delivery to the Yongli court was all the way west. With the news of Feng Yao's death, he passed through Sanshui and Zhaoqing and went up the Xijiang River until he arrived at

Traveling in Wuzhou.

The confluence of Wuzhou, Yanxunjiang, Guijiang and Xijiang has been called the "Three Rivers Convergence" since ancient times. It is the gateway to the east of Guangxi. This place is not only the key point of Guangxi and Guangxi, where business travelers gather, but also the place where Gui Fan established Hengzhou as the western gateway.

It was the place where the army lived for a long time after the army captured it. Therefore, whenever Emperor Yongli encountered military pressure from the Qing court in Guangdong, he would flee here immediately.

Two months ago, the Yongli court heard that the Qing army was marching south and fled here in a hurry, leaving only a scattered defense in Guangdong. Before any coordination could be carried out, the west wind prevailed over the east wind, and the "Tiger Hunting" campaign began.

The distance between Zhaoqing and Wuzhou was only three hundred miles, but once they entered Chen Bangfu's territory, the originally famous "Five Tigers" were like fallen phoenixes. Except for Yuan Pengnian and Ding You, the other four were directly killed.

Suo was imprisoned. During the interrogation, Jin Bao refused to plead guilty and called out his two ancestors; Ding Shikui, Liu Xiangke, and Meng Zhengfa "talked about "spare my life, Lord, all generations of princes" and kowtowed like pounding garlic, which can be said to be ugly.

The power of Zhongdong Xun in the DPRK was weak, so Qu Shichun, who stayed in Guilin, went to Shu one after another to intercede on his behalf. However, the Five Tigers were so domineering that not only the other party in the party struggle wanted to criticize them, but even Emperor Yongli disliked them for relying on Li Chengdong in the DPRK.

The power of a fox and a tiger cannot be undone in a short period of time.

In May, the Qing army besieged Guangzhou for two months, including Huizhou Prefecture, northern Guangzhou, and a large number of counties in the east fell into the hands of the Qing army. However, the party struggle in Wuzhou was still not over. Except for Yuan Pengnian who was dismissed in the name of Ding You, the other four people

They were all dismissed from their posts and sent to the army, and the stolen goods were recovered and paid. For this reason, Li Yuanyin, who was in Zhaoqing, had to rush to Xingzai to try to restore the decline of the Chu party in the court.

At the Wuzhou Palace, Li Yuanyin and the commander of the Zhongzhen Battalion from Nanning, Ying Guogong Gao Yigong, and Xingping Marquis Dang Shouxu, came to the palace together. Empress Dowager Ma hung down the curtain to summon the three commanders to confer the title, but Li Yuanyin fell to the ground and begged to die, fighting for the five tigers.

Justification. For this reason, Emperor Yongli encouraged and Empress Dowager Ma spoke up, and even Gao Bizheng got into trouble. It was not until Empress Dowager Ma finally had no choice but to talk about the Dian seal issue that she silenced the ministers.

.

The so-called Dian seal actually refers to Sun Kewang's attempt to be granted a title by the King of Qin. This incident happened against the background of the defeats of He Tengjiao, Jin Shengheng and Li Chengdong. Sun Kewang cited a province to attach it, but there was opposition from within the Ming court, especially from the Chu Party.

However, there was a huge outcry. Later, as the situation continued to deteriorate and there were more and more voices of approval, the two sides turned to making a fuss about the account ban.

There was endless debate in the court, and finally, with the efforts of Du Yinxi, Emperor Yongli pinched his nose and gave Sun Kewang the title of King of Ping Liao. Unexpectedly, Chen Bangfu failed to induce the Zhongzhen camp to attack Guilin, so he had a grudge with Gao Bizheng and tried to lure the Daxi Army.

To counter the loyalty camp, they actually issued an edict to confer Sun Kewang as the King of Qin. The edict contained more words such as "I will lead the people of the world to serve the king as my father and teacher", ordered him to "supervise the country", bestowed "Nine Tins", "Prime Minister Chao Gang", "

"Control the world's civil, military, military, and horse" and other nondescript words, the two sides almost fell out. However, the capriciousness of the Ming court also completely strengthened the Daxi Army Group's will to annex the Sichuan and Guizhou vassal towns by force.

In the final analysis, this incident was caused by Chen Bangfu's chaos in the country, which caused the situation to get out of control, but the Yongli court did not dare to take advantage of Chen Bangfu's power in Guangxi. Of course, it was also well prepared for the Daxi Army, such as consecrating the Guizhou warlord Pi Xiong.

Since Wang and Xiang were dukes, they clearly stated that they were "to guard against Yunnan invaders".

At this moment, the group could no longer distinguish the Wu Party, and the chaos of the Chu Party blocked Li Yuanyin back. Emperor Yongli breathed a sigh of relief, because he knew very well that Li Yuanyin was a loyal minister and a military commander who could be relied on.

It's just that he participated in the party struggle too much and became a little domineering. In addition, in today's Guangdong battlefield, he also had to rely on this person to have the possibility of repelling the Qing army, so he repeatedly encouraged and praised him.

The matter came to an end for the time being, and Li Yuanyin had no choice but to look for another good opportunity. Next, it was the turn of Gao Bizheng and Dang Shouxu to confront each other. This time they brought five thousand elites from the Zhongzhen Battalion to Wuzhou Qinwang, and at the same time did a good job

Li Yuanyin already knew all this in preparation for entering Guangzhou, but as Gao Bizheng's words continued to unfold, Li Yuanyin discovered that he had underestimated this "bandit leader" from the beginning.

"I heard that all the land in the world is not the king's territory, and the shores of the land are not the king's ministers. The vassals have received the grace of my emperor and are restrained in one area. Money, food, soldiers, officials and general appointments are all from the vassals and not the imperial court, although there is no restraint.

The name "Dushi" means "Jiedushi". The decline of the prosperous Tang Dynasty since the An-Shi Rebellion is precisely due to the fact that the authority of Jiedushi is external but not internal. If the Tang Dynasty was like this, how can the Kuang Dynasty be like today?"

"I believe that in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Tang Dynasty, to protect the loyalty of all vassals, and to resist the cruelty of the imperial army, local money and food, officials, and the appointment of generals and schools in various towns should be uniformly arranged by the imperial court, and the amount should be used. Only then can we focus on Sichuan and Guizhou.

The limited financial and military resources of the four provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong are used to save the nation and realize the great cause of the resurgence of the Ming Dynasty. This matter is not only initiated by the minister, but also started by the loyal camp."

At the beginning, Gao Bizheng and Dang Shousu proposed to use the Zhongzhen Battalion as the main force to save Guangdong. The Zhongzhen Battalion had repeatedly made military exploits on the Huguang battlefield in the past few years, and its combat effectiveness was not inferior to that of the elite Green Battalion. In the Nanming vassal towns

It can be regarded as one of the strongest troops in the country. Once the proposal to advance eastward from the Zhongzhen Camp was put forward, it immediately aroused the support of some courtiers in the DPRK who were worried about state affairs. Even Li Yuanyin was suspicious that Gao Bi was coming to Guangdong to grab territory.

, but it’s not easy to object in person.

After all, the situation in Guangdong was deteriorating, and he was really not shameless enough to tell Emperor Yongli that their "Dongxun" was 100% confident of defeating Shang Kexin.

This matter involves a wide range of things, including money, food, mobilization, and coordinated operations with the Guangdong armies. It will take a long time to finalize it. Li Yuanyin is not in a hurry. Even if the Chu Party is weak in the court, he can

It was not that there was no way to boycott the matter. However, as Gao Bizheng's initiative to return military power, financial power and personnel power to the imperial court was put forward, not only him, but also the hall was completely silent, and even Emperor Yongli did not.

What is your opinion on this?

In the final analysis, Gao Bizheng's initiative was indeed conducive to the restoration of the imperial court's authority, and was also conducive to the elevation of the Zhongzhen Battalion's status in the court, as well as to the complete clearing of the "thieves" of the remnants of the Dashun Army who had followed Li Zicheng. It was a win-win situation.

However, the implications of this matter are huge, especially for the Yongli court, which has always been living in a situation where there are many vassal towns. It is an important matter that cannot be easily expressed.

After commending the three generals Li Yuanyin, Gao Bizheng and Dang Shouxu, Emperor Yongli hurriedly asked the three of them to retreat and rest. Seeing these three "troublemaker" guys exiting the palace, he couldn't help but relax.

Loud mouth.

At this moment, Du Yonghe's two memorials reporting the situation and the forwarded memorial had also been delivered. Emperor Yongli read the memorial and sighed again.

"Feng Cangyu is a loyal minister. It's a pity that there is one less loyal minister like this."

Once he thought of that retinue at his side, the old general who resolutely asked for an envoy when he was in trouble, Emperor Yongli's nose felt sore, and tears almost came out of his eyes.

To avoid losing his composure, he pretended to be calm and read the memorial. After approving the commendation, he handed it over to Yousi for processing. He quickly opened the next memorial written by Zheng Chenggong, sent to Guangzhou by Chen Kai, and forwarded to Guangzhou by Du Yonghe.

Here comes the report on the battlefields in southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong.

Regarding Zheng Chenggong, Emperor Yongli actually never had the idea of ​​asking him to be the king. Now, Zheng Chenggong sent Chen Kai to explain to the Yongli court the reason why they could not come to the king for the time being. Is he sincere or is he blocking Yongli?

The court's words actually don't matter, because the Yongli court's ability to control the vassal towns is really minimal, especially for vassal towns like Zheng Chenggong who are far away in eastern Guangdong and southern Fujian and originally obeyed the Tang vassal.

However, Yongli still had a good impression of Chen Kai. Apart from other things, a Shanxi scholar went south alone to join the king's army. No matter where you talk about it, it is an admirable deed. This is Wu

Officials from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Huguang in the Party and Chu Party also used to promote Chen Kai's integrity to build momentum for themselves. Hearing it more often on weekdays only deepened this impression.

"This Chen Kai is also a loyal official. It's a pity that he was not used by the imperial court. He is only a staff member of a feudal town. It is really overqualified and underused."

Thinking of this, Yongli closed the memorial and sighed. But when he opened the last memorial, he almost choked on the thought he just had.

"...On April 26, Liang Biaoxiang and the Red Flag pirates surrendered and burned the ships of the Guangzhou Navy... Wu Wenwen, the minister and governor, Yin Zhirong's Guangzhou Navy and Lin Cha, and Chen Kai's Chaozhou Navy defeated Liang Biaoxiang's bandits.
Chapter completed!